Related papers: Efficiency of surface-driven motion: nano-swimmers…
Both natural and artificial small-scale swimmers may often self-propel in environments subject to complex geometrical constraints. While most past theoretical work on low-Reynolds number locomotion addressed idealised geometrical…
We demonstrate with experiments and simulations how microscopic self-propelled particles navigate through environments presenting complex spatial features, which mimic the conditions inside cells, living organisms and future lab-on-a-chip…
We explore hydrodynamic interactions between microswimmers and corrugated, or rough, surfaces, as found often in biological systems and microfluidic devices. Using the Lorentz reciprocal theorem for viscous flows we derive exact expressions…
Catalytic microswimmers typically swim close to walls due to hydrodynamic and/or phoretic effects. The walls in turn are known to affect their propulsion, making it difficult to single out the contributions that stem from particle-based…
The swimming of a pair of spherical bladders that change their volumes and mutual distance is efficient at low Reynolds numbers and is superior to other models of artificial swimmers. The change of shape resembles the wriggling motion known…
We investigate the self-locomotion of an elongated microswimmer by virtue of the unidirectional tangential surface treadmilling. We show that the propulsion could be almost frictionless, as the microswimmer is propelled forward with the…
Surface nanobubbles are nanoscopic spherical-cap shaped gaseous domains on immersed substrates which are stable, even for days. After the stability of a {\it single} surface nanobubble has been theoretically explained, i.e. contact line…
It is shown that the system efficiency of a self-propelled flexible body is ill-defined unless one considers the concept of quasi-propulsive efficiency, defined as the ratio of the power needed to tow a body in rigid-straight condition over…
It has been shown that a nanoliter chamber separated by a wall of asymmetric obstacles can lead to an inhomogeneous distribution of self-propelled microorganisms. Although it is well established that this rectification effect arises from…
The swimming of a deformable planar slab in a viscous incompressible fluid is studied on the basis of the Navier-Stokes equations. A continuum of plane wave displacements, symmetric on both sides of the slab and characterized by a…
Recent findings of possible applications of bio-friendly synthetic self-phoretic swimmers, have motivated the researchers in investigating the various motion-generating mechanisms to optimize the operating characteristics of the same. In…
Various aspects of self-motility of chemically active colloids in Newtonian fluids can be captured by simple models for their chemical activity plus a phoretic slip hydrodynamic boundary condition on their surface. For particles of simple…
We present an experimental study of capillary surfers, a new fluid-mediated active system that bridges the gap between dissipation- and inertia-dominated regimes. Surfers are wave-driven particles that self-propel and interact on a fluid…
Physics of self-propelled objects at the nanoscale is a rapidly developing research field where recent experiments focused on motion of individual catalytic enzymes. Contrary to the experimental advancements, theoretical understanding of…
We demonstrate that "moderate" departures from the no-slip hydrodynamic boundary condition (hydrodynamic slip lengths in the nanometer range) can result in a very large enhancement - up to two orders of magnitude- of most interfacially…
Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are used to simulate a layer of nanoparticles diffusing on the surface of a liquid. Both a low viscosity liquid, represented by Lennard-Jones monomers, and a high viscosity liquid, represented by…
Reciprocal movement cannot be used for locomotion at low-Reynolds number in an infinite fluid or near a rigid surface. Here we show that this limitation is relaxed for a body performing reciprocal motions near a deformable interface. Using…
This article presents a computational approach for determining the optimal slip velocities on any given shape of an axisymmetric micro-swimmer suspended in a viscous fluid. The objective is to minimize the power loss to maintain a target…
We study the effect of a nearby planar wall on the propulsion of a spherical phoretic micro-swimmer driven by reactions on its surface. An asymmetric coverage of catalysts on its surface which absorb reactants and generate products gives…
The concept of swim pressure quantifies the average force exerted by microswimmers on confining walls in non-equilibrium. Here we explore how the swim pressure depends on the wall curvature and on the presence of sharp corners in the wall.…